Launch36 trades on Atlantic’s tech triumphs _ Entrepreneur _ Financial Post

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L a u n c h 3 6 t r a d e s o n A t l a n t i c ’ s t e c h t r i u m p h s

Quentin Casey Jan 30, 2012 – 1 :50 PM ET

It’s an ambitious goal: to launch 36 Maritime startups in 36 months.

That’s the aim of Launch36, a New Brunswick-based program organized by Propel ICT, a business accelerator funded largely by the

private sector, that got underway in January.

Launch36 is try ing to build on the region’s recent tech sector triumphs. Last May, for example, Fredericton-based Radian6 was sold

to San Francisco’s Salesforce.com in a deal worth nearly $350-million in cash and stock.

“The objective is to increase the number of high-growth startups within the region,” says Trevor MacAusland, Propel’s executive

director.

Launch36 will accept about six companies for each of its five-month sessions. In January, the business accelerator received 25

applications for the initial cohort.

Sixteen of those applicants were invited to Saint John, N.B., on Jan. 25 for an initial boot camp with Ash Maurya, the author of Running Lean – a guide to launching successful startups.

After refining their business plans, the applicants will return to Saint John on Feb. 4 to pitch their startup ideas to a panel of tech

sector veterans, who will select five to seven companies to join Launch36’s initial cohort.

“You have to earn your spot. Right from the get-go we’re exposing you to what it really means to be an entrepreneur — the intensity

attached to it,” Mr. MacAusland says. “It’s like a military boot camp. We need to know that you have the mettle to be an

entrepreneur.”

The program is offered free of charge. But the entrepreneurs agree to pay a tuition fee of $5,000 if their company eventually raises

more than $50,000 in outside financing. The more companies launched, the more funding Launch36 will have.

For five months, Launch36 participants will gain access to angel investors and experts on every thing from marketing to product

development. But the most important component, Mr. MacAusland argues, is mentorship.

“Most entrepreneurs face the challenge of having to build a startup alone,” he says. “It can be a very scary and lonely place to be,

especially if you don’t know where the landmines are.”

Jamie Roach / For the Telegraph-JouTrevor MacAusland, executive director of Propel ICT.





Jeff Thompson, a Launch36 mentor and co-founder of Fredericton-based Conseros Software, learned to avoid those landmines while

building his tech company in 2006. In 2009, San Francisco-based Genesys Telecommunications Inc. acquired Conseros, which

specialized in software that helps banks, insurance companies and phone providers be more efficient.

Mr. Thompson, now a senior director with Genesys, says he struggled with the decision to sell. Torn between selling and holding on,

he sought advice from Gerry Pond, considered the godfather of New Brunswick’s tech sector, who convinced him to pursue an exit.

“It now seems so obvious that that was the right decision. But when you’re in the thick of it, sometimes it’s good to have a set of eye

and ears to take a look and give y ou some impartial advice,” he says.

“It ’s invaluable having access to mentors who have been in that position before.”

An angel investor, Mr. Pond is chairman of Mariner, an IT firm that serves as something of an anchor in New Brunswick’s tech

community. He was also the initial investor in Radian6. In October, he donated $2.5-million of his Radian6 earnings to set up the $5

million Pond-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of New Brunswick with U.S. tech titanGururaj Deshpande. Both are alumni of the university.

As a Launch36 mentor, Mr. Pond will help choose the initial cohort. “I look for commitment,” he says. “If they currently have a day

ob, have they thought about when they’re going to move into this full time? And is their plan realistic?”

Pond, who was recently named Canadian Angel of 2011 at the Canadian Startup Awards, argues early stage entrepreneurs need

mentorship more than they need cash.

“That’s the essence of having successful startups. It ’s about getting the right people together and helping them through the early

days,” he says. “Every one needs capital … but mainly it’s about people and ideas.”

Brent MacDonald is hopeful the collective of Launch36 mentors will help boost the tech startup he is building with Derek Roche.

Mr. MacDonald will be pitching the merits of Xiplinx, an analytics software firm aimed at helping manufacturers track production da

in real time. For instance, he says the software will make it easier for food producers to monitor their sanitation efforts.

But first Mr. MacDonald must secure an early adopter to “validate” the technology. That’s where the Launch36 mentors can help.

“You really don’t find out whether or not it’s valuable until you get out there and talk to real people about it,” says the 29-year-old,

who is also working on an MBA at the UNB’s Saint John campus.“For us, the big piece of this is mentorship. I think that will pay dividends for years to come, whether we build a successful company

or not.”

Posted in: Entrepreneur Tags: Angel Investing, Brent M acDonald, Dere k Roche, Gerr y Pond, Gururaj Deshpande, Jeff Thom pson, Pond-Deshpande Ce ntre For Innovation

And Entrep rene urship, Radian6 Technologies Inc., Salesforce.Com Inc., Technology, Technology Sector, Univers ity Of New Brunsw ick, Ventur e Capital

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Launch36 trades on Atlantic’s tech triumphs _ Entrepreneur _ Financial Post

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